The Summer House
Published on 12. July 2018
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-78125-927-6 (ISBN)
Description
The light greenery of the early summer is trembling around Erik and Julia as they shove their children into the car and start the drive towards the house by the sea on the west coast of Finland where they will spend the summer. From the outside they are a happy young family looking forward to a long holiday together.
But look under the surface, and their happiness shows signs of not lasting the summer. On the eve of the holiday, Erik lost his job, but hasn't yet told the family. And the arrival of Julia's childhood friend Marika - along with her charismatic husband Chris, the leader of a group of environmental activists that have given up hope for planet Earth and are returning to a primitive lifestyle - deepens the hairline cracks that had so far remained invisible.
Around these people, over the course of one summer, Philip Teir weaves a finely-tuned story about life choices and lies, about childhood and adulthood. How do we live if we know that the world is about to end?
But look under the surface, and their happiness shows signs of not lasting the summer. On the eve of the holiday, Erik lost his job, but hasn't yet told the family. And the arrival of Julia's childhood friend Marika - along with her charismatic husband Chris, the leader of a group of environmental activists that have given up hope for planet Earth and are returning to a primitive lifestyle - deepens the hairline cracks that had so far remained invisible.
Around these people, over the course of one summer, Philip Teir weaves a finely-tuned story about life choices and lies, about childhood and adulthood. How do we live if we know that the world is about to end?
Reviews / Votes
Uncanny and intriguing, and set against a captivating natural backdrop of forest, tarns and long Nordic summer nights, the story quietly unfolded by the Finland-Swede Teir explores coming-of-age, adulthood and the cracks between expectation and experience -- Patricia Nicol * Sunday Times * With a genuinely transporting sense of place and languid summer vibe, this is a stimulating and articulate novel driven by character and ideas, and is thus inevitably more about questions than answers. * Isabel Costello * Praise for The Winter War:'Scandinavia's answer to Jonathan Franzen ... [a] remarkable eye for human behaviour ... an intelligent debut * Telegraph * Shot through with understated black humour and nicely balanced between tender and acerbic, this impressive novel is a forceful reminder that there is much more to Scandinavian writing than crime fiction * Sunday Times * Written with unshowy care and thought...there's something Anglo-Americanly, unScandinavianly familiar about the way Teir tackles these domestic and emotional entanglements * Daily Mail *
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Profile Books Ltd
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
433 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78125-927-6 (9781781259276)
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Persons
Philip Teir is a Finland-Swedish writer considered one of the most talented young novelists in Scandinavia. His poetry and short stories have been featured in anthologies including Granta Finland. His first novel The Winter War was a WHSmith 'Fresh Talent' pick. He lives in Helsinki, Finland.